Downtown Artery reopens, announces plans for new music venue

Amy Bradley founder and director of operations, William Knudsen, left, director of marketing and development, and Collin Ingram, director of business development, are shown at the Downtown Artery on Wednesday .(Photo: V. Richard Haro/The Coloradoan)

After two months, the Downtown Artery reopened this week, and Artery officials say big things are on the horizon, including opening a new live music venue and cafe.

While he won’t announce the location just yet, William Knudsen, director of marketing and development, said the new venture is just part of the expanded direction for the Artery.

Part artist studios and part art gallery/event hub, the Downtown Artery was forced to temporarily close its doors in late January due to city code violations that required changes to the building’s occupancy classification along with building updates, including adding bathrooms. Renovations are underway and should be completed by May, Knudsen said.

The closing left the Fort Collins arts scene buzzing with rumors that 252 Linden St. would become just another closed gallery amid the downtown landscape. The week the Artery was forced to shut down temporarily, so, too, did three other art galleries — permanently.

“There was never a discussion around closing down for good; it was exactly the opposite actually,” Knudsen said. “As soon as the doors closed, we got together as a team and tried to figure out where to go from there and from those conversations, a lot of great ideas for expansion actually were birthed.”

Before the Artery closed, Knudsen and the Artery’s other new staff member, Director of Business Development Collin Ingram, were artists renting studio space in the Artery.

“But as soon as (the shutdown) happened, we realized what a valuable thing this was and took that as an opportunity to get more involved,” Ingram said.

That includes a new music video production plan, dubbed the State Line Series, that will help local artists to film high-quality music videos, he said. This week, the Artery is shooting its first video with local musician Maxwell Hughes.

Returning efforts include the Acoustic Showcase music series, as well as the Artery’s presence on the First Friday Gallery Walk next month. Initially, the staff wanted to try to put something together for this Friday’s gallery walk, but time constraints required them to wait until May’s event.